Warning Stickers Won`t Appear On Mca Albums

October 10, 1985|By Jonathan Taylor., Los Angeles Daily News.

LOS ANGELES — MCA Records has become the largest record company to announce it would refuse to put warning labels on records with explicit or controversial lyrics. MCA Records joined A&M, Geffen, Island, IRS, Windham Hill and Tommy Boy in taking the tough stance in response to the efforts of several organizations asking for warning stickers or other restrictions on albums.

``Never will you find a sticker on one of our records,`` said MCA president Irving Azoff, speaking to reporters, following Mayor Tom Bradley`s press conference denouncing the recent attacks on the music industry. ``I`ve personally reviewed every record MCA`s put out in the last 50 years, and I haven`t found any that were offensive.``

The attack on rock lyrics has been spearheaded by the politically connected Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) in Washington, D.C., as well as the National PTA. Both groups have complained about the increasingly graphic lyrics of many rock and roll songs and the equally graphic visuals from rock videos.

Their efforts so far have yielded hearings before a Senate committee two weeks ago in which several senators--including Tennessee Dem. Albert Gore, whose wife, Tipper, is one of the founders of the PMRC--spoke out strongly against rock and roll.

In response, several major artists, record executives, managers and others have formed an anti-censorship group called the Musical Majority, headed by Danny Goldberg, president of Gold Mountain Records and manager of

``Miami Vice`` star Don Johnson.

Clearly, the intensity of the attacks has caught the music industry by surprise. With efforts such as Band Aid, USA for Africa and Live Aid, the music community was expecting a pat on the back rather than a swift kick.

But others see it differently.

``There are a lot of records that are explicit,`` national PTA spokeswoman Tari Marshall said. ``They talk about murder, death, drugs, and they use very vulgar language. There`s no question in anyone`s mind that`s what it is. Those are the kinds of things we`re focusing on.``

The PTA and PMRC both have proposed a rating system similar to that used in the film industry, administered by an independent panel of music professionals and community members.

``The ladies (the PMRC) came out of the box fast and well-organized,``

The situation at A&M Records is typical. After first agreeing to a counter-offer from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to put a generic warning label on some albums, the company has now come out solidly against the idea of labeling of any kind.

Billy Crystal`s new comedy A&M album ``Mahvelous`` originally was released with a sticker noting its explicit language. But the company quietly dropped the stickers a couple of weeks ago for esthetic as well as ethical reasons.

``It didn`t look good, and we didn`t like the way it felt,`` one A&M employee said.

Over at Warner Bros. Records, which is still adhering to the RIAA proposal, although no records have been stickered yet, the mood is hardening, too.

``We offered them something, they refused us, so now they may get nothing because of their intransigence,`` said Warner Bros. spokesman Bob Merlis.

On the other hand, Merlis reports, one hard-rock band approached the company and asked, `` `What do we have to do to get a sticker?` They want to be `bad` enough to get it.``

This instance notwithstanding, the concern of many in the music industry is that retailers, especially in more conservative areas of the country, won`t stock stickered records.

Jim Maxwell, manager of a record store in the San Fernando Valley community of Reseda, said he would have no objection to stocking records with warning labels.

``They already put stickers on some early Prince albums and comedy albums. I`m looking at a George Carlin album right now; it says, `This record is for adult listeners only.` Personally, I think kids will look for ones with labels on them.``

Psychiatrist Terry Lipton, who has worked extensively with adolescents and who founded Teen Line, a hotline for adolescents at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, argues that parents` concern about how rock songs influence their children may be a function of their own level of psychological development.

``When kids see some heavy-metal videos, they may not be relating so much to the sexual content of the lyrics, but there is a fair amount of evidence that they are very much influenced by the aggressive and violent aspects of the lyric and total performance.``

But, Lipton added, ``I would suggest the average adolescent may be better off with peers at a rock concert, in an experience that`s framed by every-day reality, than sitting home alone, watching the glorifications of violence on